Michiel Vandevelde: ›Ends of Worlds‹
Video work

Themes
On Stage

»Hardly anyone from the younger discourse affine generation, relies so much on the black box effect, uses sound as cinematically as he does. Out of darkness as the birthplace of imagination, he brings forth bastards of light and shadow, utopia and dystopia.« 

wrote Astrid Kaminski about Michiel Vandevelde, who was awarded the "Hoffnungsträger" prize by the magazine tanz in 2019.

In his work ›Ends of Worlds‹, which Vandevelde would have shown at PACT in May, the choreographer looks into a distant and yet uncomfortably near future. For #PACTconnected, he has now made a video in which he revisits the epilogue of the performance.

›Ends of Worlds‹ takes place in the year 2300. The date marks year zero for reproduced homo sapiens informed by the algorithmic memories and patterns of the past. Their dances and choreographies bring to mind fragments that have survived the past - moments of historical catastrophes, collective traumas as well as the legacies of choreographers from the recent history of western modern and contemporary dance like Anna Halprin and Isadora Duncan. What are the codes and signs from the past that infiltrate the future? What remnants of past ideologies do they reflect? What if the traces of these dances are to survive humankind as we know it? How would they be interpreted? Interspersed with philosophical and scientific threads, Michiel Vandevelde’s staging is a poetic compelling journey through time.  In six acts of speculation about the past from the future, the present is inevitably acutely apparent. The choreography becomes a form of science-fiction in which not only is the history of dance misrepresented and reimagined, but also past disasters are remembered.

Video credits

Edited and directed by Michiel Vandevelde
Voice-over Bryana Fritz
Graphic design Ward Heirwegh
Music ‚Lux Aeterna‘ By György Ligeti
Image and videofragments 
‚Sonderkommando photographs‘, no. 280, 281, 282, 283.
‚Dancing my cancer‘ by Anna Halprin
‚Rehearsal for the first performance of contact improvisation‘ by Steve Paxton and colleagues
‚Danse Macabre‘ by Sigurd Leeder
‚Dancesolo‘ by Mirjam Vervaeke
Text
Michiel Vandevelde
Inspired by the book
‚The Ends of the World‘
By Deborah Danowski and Eduardo Vivieros de Castro

Credits of the original dance performance

Choreography: Michiel Vandevelde Dance: Jara Vlaeminckx, Bryana Fritz, Amanda Barrio Charmelo and Mario Barrantes Espinoza Costume: Lila John Set: Ward Heirwegh, Michiel Vandevelde Dramaturgy: Esther Severi Light: Tom Bruwier, Michiel Vandevelde Technique: Tom Bruwier Production: Disagree. vzw Co-production: Kaaitheater, PACT Zollverein, Buda, Pianofabriek International distribution: Something great Financial management: Klein Verzet vzw Residencies: Stuk, Kaaitheater, PACT Zollverein, Buda, Pianofabriek Supported by: De Vlaamse Overheid and de Vlaamse Gemeenschapscommissie

Touring

21.05.2020, PACT Zollverein, Essen (DE) (cancelled)
20.05.2020, PACT Zollverein, Essen (DE) (cancelled)
05.02.2020, Frascati, Amsterdam (NL)
17.12.2019, Stadsschouwburg, Kortijk (BE)
23.11.2019, COFestival, Ljubljana (SI)
19.10.2019, deSingel, Antwerpen (BE)
18.10.2019, deSingel, Antwerpen (BE)
17.10.2019, CC Brugge, Stadsschouwburg, Brügge (BE)
07.07.2019, (Minimal/outdoor version), Damsand, Ostend (BE)
19.05.2019, KunstFestSpiele, Hannover (DE)
02.05.2019, STUK, Leuven (BE)
05.04.2019, Kaaitheater, Brüssel (BE)
04.04.2019, Kaaitheater, Brüssel (BE)

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